


two sides of a coin

by nctiny



Category: A.C.E (Beat Interactive Band), Merlin (TV), NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Fantasy, Implied/Referenced Sex, M/M, Minor Character Death, Nobility, Violence, crossover-ish, lapslock
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-28
Updated: 2020-01-28
Packaged: 2021-02-27 06:55:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,873
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22453039
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nctiny/pseuds/nctiny
Summary: in a land of myth, and a time of magic, the destiny of a great kingdom rests on the shoulders of a young man.his name?kang yuchan.
Relationships: Kang Yuchan | Chan/Lee Donghun
Comments: 3
Kudos: 1





	two sides of a coin

**Author's Note:**

> this is entirely inspired by that one idol class moment when chan was calling donghun "my lord" and "my king".

the king is dying.

donghun is dying in yuchan’s arms, and despite everything they’ve been through together, everything they’ve done to bring the prophecy to fruition - somehow, despite it all, yuchan knows deep down that they were always going to end here.

##

it begins in ealdor. yuchan would stay in the village forever if he could, with his mother and her stories, with his best friend william and the chaos that boy always stirs. the river and the trees that whisper to each other, the people that never seem to change. as timeless as the symbols carved into the stone by the willows that no one can identify. yuchan has his first kiss by those symbols, a fumbling, tender mess of a thing with will’s hands at yuchan’s waist, and yuchan not knowing where at all to touch in return. he’s fifteen and so overcome with want that he shakes with it, and it’s over before it even really begins, and yuchan burns with the memory of it, always. he could spend a lifetime in this village, content.

but then he’s seventeen, and war comes to ealdor.

the war is all over essetir, an incursion from the north that spreads across the kingdom like wildfire, leaving all in its wake to ash. will is a soldier now, of a sort, taking up arms with the village men when the king sends no knights to defend them. yuchan would fight for ealdor, too, _should_ fight, but-

but yuchan is only capable of one weapon, and it is a weapon he must never, ever use. not unless he wants to make himself even more of an outsider. it isn't even a weapon he feels remotely able to wield, despite how william shouts sometimes that yuchan can do anything with his gift. perhaps yuchan can, one day, but that day is far from now, and yuchan values the peaceful life he has too much to draw attention to himself.

war passes. yuchan thinks will might never forgive him for standing back while others have fought, and even will seems uncertain of the answer to that.

the only certainty yuchan knows after war is his mother’s fear. there are rumours that flit through the air of king cenred’s hunger for a sorcerer, for a greater power that would drive his enemies out of their castles in terror. yuchan has seen precious little of essetir outside his village, but he knows that sorcery is scarce in the kingdom. if the king is hunting for a pet warlock or witch, he will surely search through every inch of his land to get it.

yuchan thinks he might sooner die than fall into king cenred’s hands, his magic turned into nothing more than a tool of greed. and his mother, with all her brooding and deliberations, thinks the same.

one night, she comes to him as he sleeps and shakes him awake. her eyes the first thing he sees, dark with some grim intent.

“you must leave,” she urges him. “at once.” she thrusts a pack of supplies into his hands, and it is all yuchan can do to blink, bewildered, at it.

she has no time for his confusion. “the king’s men are said to be coming,” she explains, quickly as she pulls him out of the bed. “and there is no knowing how soon they may arrive. they could be here by dawn. dress!” she shoves a shirt at his chest, before she moves across the small space of their home and starts to assemble a hasty bundle of food.

yuchan stares after her. his thoughts are still thick with sleep, remnants of dreams with shining white scales and will’s hands and a vast lake. he feels no sooner to understanding his dreams than he does his mother’s words.

but _king’s men._ it pierces his fog, pieces together a nightmare of being discovered. it is all he needs to place the supply pack at his feet and change into day clothes. he has known dressing in the dark before, winter hours before dawn when there is work to be done. he will summon simple lights on those mornings, floating up from the palms of his hands to illuminate the room.

tonight’s dark is even more wretched than a december morning. but even knowing cenred’s men may yet have hours before their arrival in ealdor, yuchan does not dare let his magic loose.

when he’s dressed, he retrieves the pack and the bundle of food, and goes to his mother at the door.

there is a sealed letter in her hands.

“i have a dear friend,” she begins, not moving to look at him. her eyes are trained on the forest that sits alongside the village, a swathe of darkness black enough to rival the sky at this hour. “in camelot. his name is gaius. he’s a physician of the king. you should find safety there, and peace.”

yuchan knows of camelot, but he has never known it to be a place of peace, least of all for people of his kind. and his mother surely knows this. he can see the knowledge of it, in her knuckles turned white gripping at her letter.

but there is no hesitation in her gaze when she finally meets his eye. “uther is a man who has shown himself to be both a just and a cruel king,” she says. “in the time before the purge, essetir knew him as a valuable ally. were it not for his purge…” a heavy sigh, before she slips the letter into yuchan’s pack. when she finally speaks again, she avoids his eyes. “i would hope that the years since have softened him, if only a little.”

it’s a faltering hope, but yuchan knows it is the best hope his mother can give him.

yuchan would wish for her to go with him - but he knows she would only refuse. a bastard child has few friends, and a lone mother even fewer, but ealdor is her blood, and she cannot disentangle herself from the village any more than the willows can uproot themselves from the river’s banks. she will stay here, until her end.

this village is everyone that yuchan has ever known. and now he is about to disappear from their lives. it’s not as though he intends to be gone forever - but there’s no knowing how long cenred will keep up his search for a sorcerer, or if in his failure to find a pet, he might turn like uther and mount a purge upon the land, so as to keep any magical folk from threatening his reign.

yuchan does not want to leave ealdor for long. but standing here, feeling the night’s chill seeping beneath his skin and his feet already heavy with knowing how far he will have to walk, he finds himself thinking of his father. gone from ealdor before yuchan had even taken his first breath, somewhere distant in the world now, somewhere yuchan will never find him. yuchan cannot imagine what may drive a man to leave the life he’s built for himself, but tonight, it seems that yuchan and his father are alike in more than just blood.

his mother’s hand comes up to rest at his shoulder, fingers brushing absently at the bare skin of his throat. and for a moment, yuchan wonders if the king’s men are all that she searches for when she gazes out at the forest.

she turns away. “we’ve no more time to lose,” she says. she reaches across to smooth down one errant patch of his hair that always puffs up above the rest when he wakes, before he’s swallowed up in her sturdy embrace. she trembles a little against him, or perhaps it’s his own shaking. or perhaps both.

“it may be some time before we see each other again,” she says. “you mustn’t visit until your safety is certain, but if time allows, i may try to visit - or will in my place, i know he would be a good face for you to see in camelot-”

_will_. yuchan’s chest clenches at the thought of him. his dearest friend - even that feels too weak a description. king cenred’s laws will never allow them to have the future that yuchan desires, and this he has always known. but stealing away in the dead of night, not knowing when he will ever see will again, feels like a far more final end to that future.

but there is nothing to be done for it. yuchan is a natural warlock, and so he must flee.

he steps away from his mother. “thank you,” he says, though it comes out more as a gasp, emotion coiling the words thick in his throat til he can scarcely breathe. “thank you.”

mother only smiles, and yuchan thinks he is not the only one struggling to speak.

she leans close again, to press a kiss at his forehead. “go safely,” she whispers. her hands squeeze his tight, then drop. yuchan waits for courage to take him out of the open door, away from his home.

instead, his mother laughs, breathlessly. “wait,” she urges, though he hasn’t moved. she turns away, moving briskly at something that he cannot see.

she returns with a red neckerchief bundled in her hands.

“pay mind that you don’t lose it,” she warns. “i hear camelot is cold, though we hear a great many things about camelot, and who knows what may be truth.”

yuchan lowers his head without needing to be asked, stepping forward so that she can loop the fabric around his neck. the material of it scratches, but it still feels warmed from the hearth, and smells faintly like the river’s wildflowers.

it is enough to buoy him against the anxiety of the path ahead, and he smiles. “i’ll keep it safe!” he replies.

“take care that you do.” she tightens it a little, neatening its ends, and then it is time for yuchan to leave.

for a moment, yuchan just looks out to the forest. he will not have to venture too deeply into it; the main road out of the village will be sufficient to take him in the right direction for some miles at least. and he will have no need to fear bandits tonight - not with his magic, nor with the small dagger he feels pressing at the side of his pack.

all he needs is a light to walk by. and all his light requires is thought, a small white flame that dances out of his free hand and lingers by his head. now that he has made it, he will need to move quickly out of the village, before anyone’s sleep is stirred by it.

there is no knowing what dangers may be lurking in king uther’s lands. for all that yuchan knows, the purge against sorcery may well be underway still. perhaps the king has begun to turn a blind eye to the use of magic, or has even come to tolerate it.

perhaps yuchan faces a death sentence. or a return to peace.

no knowing until he arrives. yuchan takes a deep breath, and then he begins to walk.

  
_to camelot_.


End file.
